Scots golfer Marc Warren reveals guilt at EU Tour card

For the past fortnight, Marc Warren has felt bad for hoping his pro pals such as Gareth Maybin struggled as their scrap for the last few European Tour cards went down to the wire.

Warren was relieved on Sunday when the regular Tour season came to a close with the Scot just inside the magic 118 mark that guarantees your playing rights on the big stage next year.

In the end, his Northern Irish pal Maybin scraped through as well with the second last card.

But that didn’t stop Warren from feeling a little guilty that he wasn’t 100 per cent supportive when he watched helplessly from his Glasgow home as his card rivals got one last throw of the dice at last week’s Hong Kong Open.

Warren, who has been relying on invites all season after losing his rights last winter, said: “It was a long couple of weeks with me not getting into the last two tournaments in South Africa and Hong Kong.

“All I could do was sit and hope the guys below me in the rankings didn’t do too well, which can make you feel guilty when some of these guys are friends.

“Gareth in particular is a friend and a fellow good bluenose! We’ve gone to Ibrox together a couple few times and I’d always want him to do well.

“But I must admit when I checked the scores after the first day in Hong Kong and saw he was in the top five, I was worried what the consequences could be for me. Over the weekend, though, Gareth and most of the other boys who could’ve jumped above me fell back and I could relax more.

“But I made a point of not watching the scores too closely as you could go insane.

“I’m glad to see both of us ended up getting our cards.”

During the darker moments of Warren’s two-week wait to have his card secured, he could have been forgiven for looking back at the closing bogey at St Andrews that cost him £70,000 on the last day of the Dunhill Links.

Despite slipping from a share of third to a tie for fifth place on that 18th green, it was still a fantastic week for the former World Cup winner in front of his home crowd. But that’s not the moment he looks back on as the turning point.

He said: “If I’d had a flat lie on the fairway at St Andrews I’m convinced I’d have made a four down the last – but that was my only bogey of the week and I don’t look back on it as one that got away.

“If anything, the moment that sticks out in my mind from the year was two weeks later at the Portugal Masters when I eagled the tough 18th on the Friday to make the cut on the mark.

“It was one of the most important eagles of my career because I went on to shoot 68 and earn 18,000 euros. That was the moment that won back my card.”